Kemar Roofe praised Leeds United for silencing early-season criticism and promised to do the same with his own form after a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers moved the club into the Championship’s top 10.

Leeds picked off Walter Zenga’s side courtesy of an own goal from right-back Silvio at Molineux, repairing the damage of a week in which they were beaten at Derby County and held to an injury-time draw by Wigan Athletic.

Roofe helped to force the winner, running in and forcing a close-range concession from Silvio after Hadi Sacko punished Matt Doherty’s loss of possession with a low cross into the box on 70 minutes.

The forward, who has endured a slow start to his career at Leeds since making a £3m move from Oxford United in July, was initially awarded the strike before television replays confirmed that Silvio’s boot had denied him a first United goal.

Roofe, however, saw Saturday’s result as another step forward for a squad who were roundly pilloried after emerging from August with four points but whose current form shows 16 points gained from their last eight league matches.

“Everyone was probably writing us off after the first few games because we didn’t get results,” Roofe said. “Now we’re getting results people are actually seeing what we can do.

“There were so many new players who came in (during the summer) so I don’t know what people were expecting. It’s common sense. You have to get used to each other and it’s not going to click straight away but it’s clicking now.

“Our start wasn’t the best but we’re clawing away at the teams above us now. We don’t really look at the table though. There’s no point in looking at the table until the end of the season.”

Roofe was one of Leeds’ 11 close-season recruits, a highly-rated forward who the club stepped into sign after he won the League Two player-of-the-year award at Oxford United.

Saturday’s game was only his fourth start in the Championship and he spent a lengthy period on the bench before an injury to Stuart Dallas led Monk to promote him to the starting line-up for last week’s 1-1 draw with Wigan.

Roofe said his price tag had not affected his performances, saying: “To be honest I’ve not thought about that. It doesn’t affect me one bit. It doesn’t mean anything because there are players out there worth more than me. I’m just here to show what I can do.

“I’m always happy. Obviously you might not be quite as happy if you aren’t getting as much game time and yes it’s been tough but that’s part of football. You just get on with it. You don’t sulk and you work hard. I’ve enjoyed it from the start. Only 11 players can play and sometimes you have to wait your turn and take your chance. Hopefully I’m doing that.”

Roofe made no attempt to claim the winning effort at Molineux, admitting that Silvio had converted the ball before he could get a foot to it.

“It was great work from Hadi (Sacko),” Roofe said. “He put the cross to the near post and I made the run and caused a threat but the guy got that touch. If he hadn’t then I would have put it in myself.”